CHENNAI: Hundreds of dolls, three generations of golu-keeping legacy and traditional savouries. For 73-year-old Shyamala Narasimhan, Navaratri is incomplete without any of these. She has been following the family ritual since her childhood. Shyamala, whose hometown is Madurai, was raised in Ooty, and settled down in Chennai after marriage in 1966.
“I have fond memories of golu during my childhood. We used to set up gardens, sow seeds and wait for it to germinate during the nine days. I still have my grandma’s matsya avatar doll. It’s the nose part that chips off in most dolls. We’ve been trying to preserve them by repairing and repainting. My mother-in-law gifted me with 20 types of fruits when we moved into a new house. The rest are all gathered from different places during our travel including Khadi village, Poompuhar, Kumbakonam and from our own Mylapore,” she says.
As kids, she says, they would dress up and perform skits, music and dance. Shyamala loves preparing sweets and savouries. She has been cooking since she was 15. It was mandatory for girls to spend some time in the kitchen on a daily basis. “Sakkarai pongal is a heirloom recipe. I prepare this on the first day of Navaratri. We usually have a set of items that we prepare on each day — Mochai sundal on Monday, appam on Tuesday, paasi parupu sundal on Wednesday, kondaikadala sundal on Thursday, puttu on Friday, karamani sundal on Saturday and a wheat-based dish on Sunday. My grandmother used to make arisi puttu,” says Shyamala. One of her specialties is kunukku, a south-Indian deep fried snack made with lentils.
“Although cooking is a part of the festival, we give more importance to decorating our houses with dolls. Every house follows a theme. Ours is primarily focused on mythological figures. We still prefer age-old clay figurines over paper mache. A bit of bargain will help you pick the right dolls at a reasonable rate. Golu will always be special. More than setting up, its all about preserving the dolls,” she says.
The passion is evident from the minute you step into her drawing room. Garuda sevai, a popular ritual in Kanchipuram is set up on the left side; a five-step set-up decked with Dasavatharam of Lord Vishnu, Ashtalakshmi dolls, Vishwaroopam of Lord Vishnu occupies the centre part and dolls depicting the story of Lord Krishna and Lord Rama is set on the right.
“My grandson takes more interest in setting up the golu every year. Tirupati Utsavam is this year’s speciality. We have themes like Bharathiyar’s uzhavukkum thozhilukkum vandhanai seivom that speaks about different professions. There is a line up of dolls depicting a cobbler, weaver, carpenter, farmer and more. We also have five of Lord Ganesha’s idols this year,” shares an excited Shyamala.